Barbara M's blog

This Saturday, October 8, from 1-4 p.m., celebrate Star Wars Reads here at the library. Come dressed as your favorite Star Wars character. Listen to a Star Wars story and watch it come to life as it is illustrated before your eyes! Learn cool Jedi moves from Jedi Master Whit at 3 p.m..

In case you haven’t yet seen Robert Gardener’s spectacular “Cuba as I See it” exhibit in Room L-129 here at the library, this week gives you one last chance. Robert Gardener recently returned from Cuba as part of a cultural “Art Exchange” program that allows American citizens to visit Cuba under existing embargo laws. The exchange emphasized interaction with a variety of arts as well as participation in the everyday life of the people. Bob spent several days in Havana and Trinidad, photographing the old, colorful, and restored structures of both cities.

Havana and Trinidad both offer the visitor a rich experience of bustling streets filled with farm tractors, old cars and trucks, children everywhere, men on horseback, street vendors, bicycle and horse drawn taxis, smells of rich coffee brewing, food cooking, laughter and music everywhere.

The selections he has chosen are designed to give you a sense of the people, lifestyles, architecture and arts of today’s Cuba, before they become inevitably changed by increased tourism and outside influences.

Did you know that from 1942 to 1945 secret government trains regularly delivered American civilians to an internment camp in Crystal City, 110 miles southwest of San Antonio? The trains carried Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants and their American-born children; the vast majority of whom were deeply loyal to the United States, were never charged with a crime, and were unable to understand why they had been forced to leave their homes. Jan Jarboe Russell, a writer at large for Texas Monthly and other publications has written a gripping record of the World War II Crystal City, and it has been chosen as the Gulf Coast Reads selection for this year.

On Tuesday, September 13th, children 8-12 can learn about the famous prehistoric Lascaux Caves in France and create cave art. We will turn our tables on their sides and tape brown paper to them to re-create cave walls. The lights will be turned off except for two spotlights and children will create whatever they want as if they were in an actual cave. Does that sound like fun?

Hi Everyone: please plan your Labor Day weekend library acquisitions around the fact that we'll be open Friday, September 2nd, but we will be closed Saturday, September 3rd. Unlike other HCPL branches that will be open Saturday, because we're located on the Lone Star College campus, when the campus closes, we close as well. So we will not be open this Saturday.

See you Tuesday? Meantime, have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, from the staff of Tomball Community Library.

A big “Thank You!” to everyone who participated in any way in our Summer Reading Program, which wrapped up this Saturday with an exuberant Sock Hop. For those of you who are wondering, you can finish up your reading lists and come in for prizes for the rest of this week.

Today the magical world of Harry Potter came to Tomball Community Library. Two live screech owls appeared and were discussed in the Children’s Department; Platform 93/4 emerged and people made snapshots of themselves in front of it; staff wore Hogwarts costumes, and the entire first book of the Harry Potter series was read. Although it may not be appropriate to blow our own horns, the staff involved did a magically wonderful job!

At LSC-Tomball Community Library, requests for help in mastering the English language are ongoing. We get requests from people attempting English for the first time and from veterans who want to improve their grammar, reading, writing, or accent. We try to match these eager adult learners with a volunteer tutor.

We have also started classes for those hoping to become U.S. citizens and for those classes we also need tutors.

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer tutor? You don’t need skills in another language and you don’t need to be an expert in either our language or our civics. We have several training days for you to choose from, below. So now would be a good time to sign up! Call us at 832-559-4200.

Pokémon has become all the rage again with the release of Pokémon Go on Android and iOS. The game utilizes GPS location throughout the world to make a virtual playground for Pokémon. A lot of those Pokémon are appearing right here at our library.

Feel free to stop in for one of our many programs during the week and maybe grab a rare Pokémon while you're here. Or, you could battle one of the three 'gyms' right here on campus. Just make sure to play safely and follow the rules. If you're a pedestrian, please look away from your phone at roadways and in parking lots and look out for vehicles. When the library closes (at 9 p.m.) please refrain from wandering the campus. The campus itself closes at 10 pm.